Let Him Go
by static-harmony
Summary: Naruto gets fed up with Sakura's proclamations to love Sasuke, so he confronts her about it. During the Second Stage of the Chuunin Exams, in the Forest of Death. Sasuke/Naruto and Kakashi/Sakura. Birthday fic for AlinaLotus.
1. Chapter 1

Authors Note: If your going to complain, at least read it to the end. That's all I'm going to say.

Disclaimer: Really? Cause it's quite obvious I don't own them, or else this would all be in the damn manga.

Dedication: To AlinaLotus. Happy birthday love.

-

_And you love me but you don't know who I am  
So let me go  
Let me go_

It was the end of the first day of the Second Stage of the Chunnin Exams, and Team Seven decided they needed to find a place to camp for the night.

All three of them were tired from the run from the entrance deep into the Forest of Death, where the Second Stage of the Exams was taking place. So they decided that while two of them slept, one would stay up and keep watch.

"I'll take the first shift, you both sleep." Naruto said quietly.

Sasuke just nodded and laid his bed roll out before turning away from the other two to sleep.

"Sleep Sakura-chan" Naruto said as the pink haired kunoichi watched Sasuke's back move as he slept.

Sakura ignored Naruto and continued to watch Sasuke sleep.

"Sakura-chan" Naruto said softly so he wouldn't wake the sleeping boy to their left. "You claim to love Sasuke, but why?"

Sakura looked at Naruto, and then turned back to Sasuke staying silent.

Naruto watched the small girl while she stared at Sasuke, when she finally turned back to Naruto, there were tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

"Sakura, what exactly do you know about Sasuke?" Naruto said.

Sakura stayed silent for a moment before glancing back at Sasuke, then she sighed and looked back at Naruto and said "Why wouldn't I love Sasuke? He's obviously gorgeous, and very talented. Every girl in our class loves him."

"No, they don't. They are infatuated with him. That is not love, that's a petty school girl crush. If any of you bothered to take the time to get to know him, you might fall in love with him. Have you ever stopped to think that maybe he ignores all the girls in school because he really just doesn't like you?" Naruto said with his voice rising by the second.

"You all hound him every time you see him with squealing. Yet none of you have bothered to look past his good looks or his brooding personality, or his skills to get to know him. If you stopped squealing over him and complimenting him on everything he does he might actually talk to you." Naruto finished.

Sakura stared at Naruto, shocked to hear something like that coming from the blonde shinobi's lips. This was definitely not the number one unpredictably dobe-like ninja that they came in here with. Sakura started thinking that maybe this forest changes people.

Naruto shot a glance at Sasuke before looking back to Sakura and rolling his eyes at the tears that were very close to overflowing from her eyes.

"Sakura-chan, I'm not trying to be rude, but in all honestly. How can you claim love for a person you don't know? Besides the fact he's on our team, there's not much else you know about him. His favorite food, his favorite color, his favorite thing to do, his past. Nothing. So before you make false accusations like you know him, stop to think about what you actually know about him." Naruto said before standing up and walking away to check the perimeter for other people.

Sakura looked back at Sasuke for a moment, before pulling out her own bed roll and lying down, thinking about all the things Naruto had just said to her.

Neither of them knew that the entire time they were talking; Sasuke had been awake and heard everything. Luckily he had been turned away from the two, because the shock that crossed his face would not have been easy to hide.

-

Team Seven woke up the next day and packed up they're things before continuing they're journey deeper into the Forest of Death.

Sasuke was in the lead, followed by Sakura and then Naruto in the back keeping watch for anyone following them.

"Stop" Sasuke called and then all landed to the ground with a thump.

"I'm going to go get some more water from the river over there" Sasuke said pointing to his left where they heard to trickling of a river.

Naruto nodded and Sakura stayed silent as Sasuke walked through the trees to the river after taking each of their water bottles.

"Naruto" Sakura said staring at the ground.

Naruto turned to the pink haired girl, Sakura fidgeted slightly before saying "I want to talk to you about what you said last night."

Naruto nodded and she took that as encouragement to go on, "I thought a lot about what you said, last night and this morning sense we left our campsite, and I-I think your wrong."

Sakura stopped fidgeting and looked Naruto in the face, but what she saw there wasn't understanding, it was a touch of anger.

"Why do you think that?" Naruto said calmly, trying to keep his anger in check.

"Because I think you can love someone without knowing them. Because I love Sasuke-kun and you can't change that. You're probably just jealous anyway that I pay more attention to him." Sakura said placing her hands on her hips and forcing her head up high, willing her body not to waver under his intense gaze.

Naruto laughed loudly and didn't notice Sasuke's small footsteps coming back towards them overtop of his own laughter.

Sasuke stopped behind a tree to listen to what his fellow team members were talking about.

Naruto stopped laughing and looked at Sakura, "OH! You're serious. Sorry, that was quite funny though." He said chuckling slightly.

Sakura looked taken aback before slowly regaining her previous stance and glaring.

Naruto coughed slightly while wiping fake tears out of his eyes before saying "Let me ask you a few questions then."

Sakura huffed and nodded for him to start with the interrogation.

"What's his favorite color?" Naruto said.

"Black" Sakura replied.

"Favorite food?" Naruto said.

Sakura paused for a moment and looked up before saying, "Chocolate"

"Goal?"

"To revive his clan" Sakura said nodding.

"What happened to his clan?" Naruto said.

"Um... well. They were killed." Sakura said.

"Do you know how?" Naruto said looking her straight in the eye.

"... no." Sakura said.

Naruto laughed softly and said "Well I guess two out of five isn't bad"

"Excuse me?" Sakura said, starting to get angrier by the second.

"His favorite color is blue, not black. His favorite food is onigiri, he hates sweets. His goal is to revive his clan though. His clan was killed by his brother, but as to why his brother did it, I don't have the right to say." Naruto said, "So before you claim to be in love with him,_ again,_ take the time to get to know him for real. Because it does matter if you know someone. You claiming love for Sasuke is like me claiming love for the proctor of this exam. I know **nothing** about her."

"How... how did you know all that?" Sakura said her frame wavering slightly

"Does it matter? I at least pay enough attention to know. If you wouldn't have been swooning over the poor boy for years you probably would have noticed to. It's rather obvious. He broods because he's lonely; his clan was murdered when he was very young, but still old enough to remember. He never eats sweets, ever. He normally always has onigiri for lunch and his shirt is blue, as is the tint to his hair. Why would he wear a blue shirt all the time if it wasn't his favorite color? Hello, I wear orange 24/7, and it's my favorite color." Naruto said crossing his arms.

Sakura stood there gaping at Naruto.

"Just as I said, you don't know anything about him. And if you tell anyone those things, he'll know you only know them because of me. I'm the only other person in the world besides him who knows. And believe me; everyone knows there's no way he'd tell you. So how about you stop trying to proclaim you love to the guy and get over it. Because one; you don't love him, and two; he obviously has no desire to love you, let alone like you or else he would by now. It's been, what, 7 years?" Naruto said with a smug smile on his face.

Sakura still stood there gaping.

"Are we finished? Or are you going to start proclaiming love again? Cause in all honesty, I don't know how much more of that I can take without my ears starting to bleed." Naruto said.

"Why... wh-why are you doing this?" Sakura said in a small voice.

"Because he's my best friend, and he means more to me than you'll ever know. Just give it up Sakura, and let him go." Naruto said before walking forward.

Sakura stood still, slightly shocked, but mostly hurt. She can't believe Naruto would do something so cruel.

Sasuke just stood at the edge of the path behind a tree, gaping at the amount of knowledge the dobe knew about him. _'Maybe keeping everyone an arms length away isn't the best solution.'_ Sasuke thought.

Sasuke tried to be as loud as possible as he stepped back onto the dirt road the other two members of his team stood facing away from each other. Anger surging off one and despair off the other.

"Hn" Sasuke said stopping between the two.

"Let's go" Naruto said.

Sakura just sniffled and wiped her face off before nodding and jumping back into the trees to proceed they're journey deeper into the Forest of Death.

-

**TBC**

Note: Song is 'Let Me Go' by 3 Doors Down.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day of the exam didn't go any smoother, Sakura cried most of the time and no one bothered to comfort her or ask questions, and Naruto just stayed silent at all times. Sasuke can't say he was angry about any of this, besides the fact that Sakura's sniffles were growing more annoying by the second.

"I'm going to scout ahead" Sasuke said as the team stopped to rest. The other two nodded and he walked away.

'I still can't believe that dobe knows so much about me, I obviously underestimated him' Sasuke thought. It wasn't like he was diminishing his cold exterior so soon, but he felt his emotions wavering slightly when he felt Naruto's gaze on his back.

'Snap out of this Uchiha, you have to keep your eyes on your goal. Kill Itachi. That's all that matters in the end', but even as Sasuke thought this, he was beginning to think it wasn't his number one priority anymore.

Sure his clan had meant everything to him, but another part of him just couldn't believe that his brother would do something so cruel just to 'measure his abilities'. Sasuke was starting to think that living his life for revenge was no way to live, especially if he closed himself off from everyone.

-

Team Seven continued their journey towards the central tower in the Forest of Death, hoping to run into another ninja team they'd be able to beat in order to get the second scroll they needed.

But the fact that several days had passed already, the team was beginning to lose hope in that task. Naruto had even suggested opening their scroll to see what happened, but luckily Sasuke stopped him in time.

Sasuke couldn't say it was dumb idea, because he had thought of it on more than one occasion, but it would be best to just finish their mission as it was assigned and pass.

That was until they ran into one of the most powerful ninja they had faced thus far, and the end result wasn't pretty.

-

Sakura laid both Sasuke and Naruto down underneath a set of tree roots in a secluded area in order to better protect them from harm.

Sakura tried to nurse the two of them as well as she could, but because she was still furious with Naruto and confused about Sasuke, her feelings kept getting in the way. But this was a team mission, and she wouldn't let her feelings get them hurt, or worse.

Sakura was still trying to piece together what exactly had occurred not more than a few hours ago. Some guy with weird snake-like abilities just attacked Sasuke, ranting and raving about who knows what, and then bit Sasuke in the neck! Sakura was reeling from this. Sometime during this fight, Naruto had been knocked out and hadn't woke up sense.

Sakura was worried about Sasuke, but at the same time, she was trying to place her feelings for the black haired shinobi. She would be lying if she said that was Naruto said hadn't bothered her, because it had. But to what extent?

-

Sakura was in trouble, like major trouble. The Sound Ninja had just come out of no where to attack Sasuke while he was weak. And neither Sasuke nor Naruto had woken yet, and obviously none of the other ninja teams wouldn't go to help another team, not during this exam. So Sakura was alone, scared and being held in place by a female with a firm grip on her hair.

Things were not looking well for Sakura, or Sasuke and Naruto, currently still passed out underneath the tree roots.

Sakura was about 99% sure she was done for, until a blur came from somewhere to her right and knocked down the other two Sound Ninja's while the female sound nin just looked on in terror before releasing Sakura's hair and running to help her team mates.

Sakura let herself fall facedown into the dirt and just stay there, waiting for the Sound Ninja to come finish her off, but that never happened.

The next thing Sakura knew, she was picked up by a firm set of hands and cradled to a very warm firm chest.

Sakura opened her eyes and looked up to see the face of her sensei.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura said.

"Hello Sakura, glad to see I made it in time." Kakashi said smiling behind his mask.

"You… you… saved me." Sakura whispered unconsciously snuggling herself closer to her savoir.

Kakashi laughed and said "Of course Sakura" before laying her down next to her unconscious team mates and summoning Pakkun, who he sent to report to Anko about the situation.

"Don't worry Sakura, you will be alright" He said while stroking the young girls pink hair.

Sakura smiled at her sensei before passing out from exhaustion.

-

When Sakura woke up, she was in the Konoha hospital lying in a bed in a crisp new hospital gown covered in a thin white sheet.

Kakashi sat in a chair next to her bed, asleep with one of the 'Icha Icha Paradise' novels resting against his chest.

Sakura smiled at her sensei before slowly getting up out of her bed to get a closer look at him.

The small girl got right into her sensei's face and stared, before pulling the corners of his mask down and staring for a moment longer, before leaning forward and placing a small kiss onto her sensei/saviors lips. Sparks flew behind her eyelids, and she opened them to see Kakashi's right eye gazing at her.

Sakura instantly blushed and shuffled back into her bed while covering her head with the sheet.

Kakashi pulled his mask back up and chuckled.

"Sakura" Kakashi whispered.

Sakura peaked out from behind her sheet and saw that Kakashi had moved from sitting the chair to sitting on her bed, right in front of her.

Kakashi pulled the rest of the sheet down from covering her face, and she blushed bright red again, whimpering slightly when he grazed his fingertips across her cheek.

"Well I should tell you that Sasuke and Naruto are fine, they are both in a room together. I already spoke to Naruto, he's awake. Sasuke's bite mark is a different story, but the healers say they should be able to stop the affects of it, which we will get into more when I explain it to the rest of the team, but Naruto's at his bedside for now. The exams have been canceled for now, considering the Sand Ninja told us about their plans to attack Konoha with Orochimaru, the shinobi who bit Sasuke. We believe they only told us because the Kazekage was found dead, killed by Orochimaru." Kakashi said, still running his fingers over Sakura's face.

"The Chunnin exams will continue as planned in two weeks, giving everyone a chance to regroup before the Forest of Death again. Only the teams who first went into the Forest are allowed to continue, no new teams, so Team Seven is still in the running." Kakashi finished.

Sakura hummed as Kakashi started running his fingers over her neck.

"You should rest" Kakashi said, dropping his fingers from her face.

"Please…. pl-please stay" Sakura said in a small voice while her gaze stayed fixed on the thin sheet she was currently gripping at.

Kakashi stared at the small girl for a moment before motioning for her to scoot over, which she gladly did. Kakashi laid down next to her and held her as she placed her head on his chest and began to fall asleep. No words were needed, because they both knew that whatever they said would be nothing compared to what they were feeling.

'Maybe Naruto was right.' Sakura thought as she drifted off to sleep.

-

Sasuke woke up with a sharp pain in his neck, a warm hand death clutching his, and the obvious sensation that he was being watched. Sasuke peered through his eyes and met the sharp intense gaze of Naruto.

Sasuke wiggled his fingers and Naruto instantly loosed his grip.

"Sasuke" Naruto whispered before looking down, "I-I thought you were dead."

Sasuke just stayed silent and watched the small tears fall from Naruto's eyes onto his lap as he grabbed Sasuke's hand with his other one.

"What happened?" Sasuke said.

Naruto sighed deeply to regain himself before telling Sasuke exactly what Kakashi had told him when he first woke up, when he finished, Sasuke just stared at the wall.

"So the exams are being pushed? But we're still in them?" Sasuke said.

Naruto nodded and they fell into an awkward silence again.

"Sasuke" Naruto said, sounding strained.

Sasuke looked at him and noted the pain in the blonde boy's eyes.

Sasuke chuckled lightly, which caused red to flash in Naruto's eyes.

Naruto let go of Sasuke hand and stood up, which made his chair clatter to the floor.

"This isn't funny! I'm serious; you have no idea how worried I was! I thought you had died! I was all ready to run out of this village to find the bastard that did this to you!" Naruto said, pacing back and forth beside Sasuke's hospital bed.

Sasuke had stopped laughing and just smiled at the blonde boy.

Naruto huffed loudly and put his face in his hands, fighting back tears that threatened to burst forth again.

"Naruto" Sasuke said.

Naruto breathed deeply before glancing at Sasuke, who beckoned him over.

Naruto walked over to Sasuke's bed before sitting down on the edge. Sasuke pulled Naruto closer to him and held the small boy as he sobbed into Sasuke's chest.

"You have no idea how much I'm worried I'll lose you before I even have you." Naruto said into Sasuke's hospital gown.

"Dobe, you already do have me." Sasuke said.

Naruto choked on another sob and held onto Sasuke, placing small kisses on the boy's chest and arms.

Sasuke just held Naruto, murmuring soothing words into the others hair and occasionally kissing the blonde boys temple, before rocking him back and forth until they both fell to sleep.

-

**TBC**

End Authors Note: I know I cut out the whole Orochimaru fighting Team Seven thing and the whole Sound Ninja fight, but honestly, you've already seen/read it if your reading this story, so why should I retell it? Just go reread it or re-watch it if you want to see it again.

Btw: You can imagine the team at any age you want, it really doesn't matter. Cause some people will be like "But Sakura's too young!", so imagine them at any age you want to make it fit, it doesn't matter.


	3. Chapter 3

Four days later, Sasuke was released from the hospital. Naruto had been released a few days before, but still stay in the hospital at Sasuke's bedside, though most of the time he was in Sasuke's bed instead of a different one like the nurses told him to be.

During the times when Naruto was asleep with his head on Sasuke's chest, Sasuke had been thinking about a specific thing he had been wanting to ask his dobe of a boyfriend. Sasuke normally wasn't one to be scared, but this time, he was.

So as Sasuke and Naruto walked down the streets of Konoha, Sasuke was panicking, on the inside of course, he would never let anyone see his resolve collapse.

Naruto, of course, knew something was up with Sasuke, but just kept quiet and continued whistling as he walked down the road, side by side with Sasuke.

When Naruto and Sasuke had finally reached the blonde haired shinobi's apartment, Sasuke had finally realized he had to get this over with now, or else he would lose his nerve.

Naruto pulled his keys out of his pocket and proceeded to unlock and open his front door, before ushering Sasuke in and locking the door behind the two.

Naruto instantly pushed Sasuke against the closed door and kissed him hard on the lips.

Sasuke moaned into Naruto's mouth, completely forgetting about his earlier thoughts.

When Naruto pushed his hips forward, Sasuke's head snapped back and he finally remember what he had wanted to do.

"Naruto" Sasuke moaned, "Before this goes any further, I want to talk to you about something."

Naruto mumbled and moved back from Sasuke, staring at the floor.

Sasuke rubbed his face to regain some self control before walking over to Naruto's couch and sitting down. Naruto followed him and sat down far away from Sasuke and continued to stare at the floor.

"So" Naruto whispered.

"I'm not leaving you dobe" Sasuke said.

Naruto's head snapped up, "You… aren't?"

Sasuke chuckled, "No I'm not"

"Oh" Naruto said as a bright smile lit up his face.

"There is something I want to ask you though." Sasuke said, starting to panic slightly again.

"I know, you were practically screaming with worry on the way here." Naruto said, still grinning.

Sasuke nodded and started to fidget, which was unlike his personality.

Naruto scooted closer to Sasuke and placed a hand on his knee, "You can just say it"

Sasuke blew out a breath and said "Will you move in with me? To the Uchiha compound."

Right after he said it, Sasuke decided to look anywhere besides Naruto's face.

Naruto's face lit up and he jumped on Sasuke, hugging the black haired shinobi tightly.

"I'd love to!" Naruto screamed.

Sasuke sighed in relief and hugged Naruto back.

"I love you." Naruto whispered almost inaudibly, but Sasuke heard it and just kissed his temple in response.

-

Sakura laid on her stomach on her bed, glancing over a random scroll for a jutsu she was supposed to be learning, but her thoughts kept drifting back to a silver haired mask wearing shinobi.

Sakura sighed and dropped herself face down onto her pillow, sighing louder, and then growling in frustration.

Finally realizing that she was going to get no where, she pushed herself out of bed and shrugged her jacket on before running downstairs and shoving her feet into her blue sandals and yelling to her parents that she was going for a walk.

Sakura walked for about a half hour before coming to a stop in front of her favorite tree, oddly enough it was a sakura tree. Which amused her to no end, but it was a beautiful tree that always seemed to calm her racing mind.

Sakura just sat herself down in front of the tree and leaned back against it and sighed contently. There was something about this tree that calmed her.

She sat there clearing her head for about twenty minutes before she heard footsteps coming towards her. Not bothering to open her eyes, Sakura said "Kakashi-sensei."

"Your ability to sense chakra never ceases to amaze me Sakura" Kakashi said sitting down next to her.

Sakura hummed in response and kept her eyes closed, as long as she didn't look at her sensei, she wouldn't be compelled to do something she knew she'd regret later.

'As long as I don't see, or smell, or taste, or touch, or – Get a hold of yourself Sakura!' Sakura thought to herself.

Because Sakura knew that if she chanced a peek at her sensei, it would all be over, and her world would come crashing down, because she could already tell she was falling for her sensei, and she wasn't sure if it was because he had saved her in the Forest of Death, or if it was for other reasons, but she was.

Sakura inhaled deeply and was instantly invaded by his scent, which made her mind fuzz over and her body turn numb.

Sakura exhaled just as deeply, willing the emotions that flooded over her to flee her body and leave her to her unrequited love.

"Anything you want to talk about?" Sakura said, trying to figure out why her sensei was bothering to sit next to her when he obviously had many other things he could be doing.

"Yes, but it can wait." Kakashi said.

"For?" Sakura said, almost giving in and looking at him.

Kakashi stayed silent for so long that Sakura had thought he left; therefore she opened her right eye and peered sideways. He was still sitting there, staring into the distance. Sakura cursed her luck as her breath hitched.

Kakashi must have heard the small sound that escaped her because he looked at her and lightly placed his fingers on her cheek.

"Don't" Sakura whispered, leaning into his touch against her will.

"Don't what?" Kakashi said moving closer to her.

"Don't do this. You're just going to leave in the end and say that I'm too young for you." Sakura said, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes.

"You are too young for me" Kakashi replied, still running his fingers over her face.

Sakura whimpered in response and the tears began to fall from her eyes, which she immediately shut. Kakashi instantly began wiping them away as they fell.

"How do you know you love me?" Kakashi said.

"Who said I loved you." Sakura whispered.

"You didn't have to. I just know." Kakashi replied, moving closer to her until he was right beside her.

"How?" Sakura said, leaning closer to him, her eyes still closed.

"Because I love you too. Against my better judgment and everyone expectations." Kakashi said.

"But you will leave me." Sakura said, forcing herself to move away from his touch.

"I can't leave you Sakura." Kakashi said, and Sakura realized his voice sounded strained.

"I've been trying to stay away from you, I've been fighting with my emotions for far too long and I can't do it anymore. It was easier before when you had that childish crush on Sasuke, but now that you are returning my feelings, I can't fight mine." Kakashi said, pulling Sakura to him and kissing her.

Sakura put her hands into Kakashi's hair and moved against him, all the while stars were exploding behind her eyelids and she was turning into mush.

Kakashi pulled back slightly and looked at her. Sakura regained her breathing and then opened her eyes to look at him, and when she looked into his one visible eye, she knew he wasn't lying.

"I'm sorry I hurt you with my stupid crush. I should have realized tha-" Sakura started.

"Shh. None of that matters now." Kakashi said before pulling her down for another kiss.

Sakura put as much love as she could into this one kiss, hoping it conveyed all the emotions that were running through her at the moment. Kakashi responded with the same enthusiasm, so Sakura realized he must feel the same she does.

Sakura decided to apologize to Naruto tomorrow, because even though she doesn't know everything about Kakashi-sensei, she knows more about him than anyone else.

-

**END.**

End Authors Note: That's it, it's over. I know it was rather boring, but sue me. I liked it. XD


End file.
